Papercut Hands
by kendrow
Summary: After an impromptu shower encounter, Beca and Chloe are both certain they know what they want. The problem is, it's not necessarily each other. And when the lines blur between sex and what really matters, Beca's determined to come out on top.


She'd been sat there for an hour now. It was cold. Her fingers bumped along the floor in long systematic lines, her palms covered in a web of shallow ridges, the lukewarm water still coming down in short feeble spurts from the showerhead above carving elaborate furrows into her fingertips.

Chloe had left a while ago, smelling like sex. She hadn't bothered to shower again, just pressed a tentative kiss against Beca's jaw before disappearing around the other side of the shower curtain.

Her lips burned, electric shocks still reverberating beneath her skin. They echoed, bouncing and stretching and twisting her insides, leaving her feeling uncannily empty. Like being fucked against a communal shower wall wasn't quite enough; like the moment Chloe had left she'd taken much of herself with her.

"_Bullshit_." Beca muttered to herself quietly, her eyelids fluttering closed.

Despite the lack of, well, _anything_, she felt coolly, contentedly numb, sat here, post-sex, savoring, not necessarily Chloe specifically, but the feeling of having just been defiled so spectacularly in public. The spontaneity of their encounter gave her a buzz she thought she could only get from her music. And yet here she was, chest still heaving, skin still quivering, completely oblivious to the now-cold-water running in crisscross channels down her back.

It wasn't that hard to get to grips with. She'd been with girls before. Nothing serious, just sloppy, alcohol-induced kisses back in highschool. Always numb, always focusing on nothing but the buzz. The sensations were what she did it for, never the person. What had happened with Chloe was exactly that.

It was _just_ sex.

It was a few moments before she felt her legs begin to seize up. She wasn't sure what time it was; it'd already been fairly late when Chloe had burst in on her an hour or so ago. Her eyes slid open, catching sight of her towel lying a few feet away. She reached out with her foot. It was soaking. She let out a groan.

Her muscles protested loudly as she struggled to stand, her lack of movement prior nearly causing her to fall back down to the floor _twice_, before she managed to reach vertical status and take two hesitant steps towards the shower curtain. She held her breath, her ears straining desperately through the fabric. There was no sound except for the broken clatter of running water coming from behind her. She leant back and pressed down on the metal lever, the shower trickling slowly to a stop.

And then she heard the door open.

Running on instinct she threw herself downwards and scrambled desperately for her towel, whipping the saturated cloth in front of her body and slamming her rear against the back wall for the second time that day.

"Beca?"

Her breath left her like she'd been punched in the stomach.

A second later and it was like she was suffering from a severe case of déjà vu, except one party was a lot less naked. "You're still here." Chloe stated, her large blue eyes peering down at her from beneath her sleep mask.

She was dressed in her pajamas – a large button-up pink flannel shirt and matching pants, a pair of white fluffy slippers poking out from the hems. Beca's grip tightened. "You have a towel." she responded flatly.

Chloe glanced down at the bundle of lilac-colored fabric cradled in her arms, and nodded. "It's for you."

"How did you-"

"You told me once you like long showers." she replied, waving it off with a nonchalant flick of her wrist. She smiled and held it up. "Here."

There were a few painful seconds where Beca didn't move to take it. She stood motionless, pressed fast against the wall, her face stoic. The redhead cocked an eyebrow. "Beca, as much as I love seeing you…_like this_, you're freezing." She held it up again. "Please. Just take the towel." Beca blanched, the red hue on her cheeks spreading along her jaw and down her neck as she finally succumbed to reason and snatched it from the expectant redhead's outstretched hands. Chloe chose to avert her gaze this time, becoming overly interested in the thread count of the shower curtain rather than Beca's blatant nudity. She eventually managed to swap the wet towel with the dry one without revealing too much, wrapping the plush material around her tiny frame and tucking the ends beneath her arms to keep it in place.

She chanced a glance back at Chloe's face once she was satisfied her state of undress was secure. Her tongue flicked out, absent-mindedly wetting her bottom lip as she eyed her captor up and down. "Thanks." she muttered quietly, her arms folded protectively across her chest. She couldn't help but notice the flash of tanned skin and slender curve of Chloe's collarbone poking out from where the top two buttons of her shirt had been left undone. It sent a hum of recognition down her spine; her lips had been pressed to that very spot not two hours before.

She'd tasted like sweat.

"Are you coming?" Chloe had made to move towards the door, her hand resting nochalantly on the ceramic frame as she turned to look back over her shoulder.

Beca internally cursed herself for letting her thoughts wonder so precariously. She knew by the look on Chloe's face that she knew where her mind had just gone. And she also knew that Chloe knew where '_this'_ was going. Her gaze fell resolutely to the floor. "Yeah," She moved forwards, brushing dismissively past the curtain.

A triumphant grin swept across Chloe's face as she handed her her robe. "Good."

They decided to walk back to Beca's room together, wrists bumping every now and then, an unspoken agreement slowly forming in the muted air between them as they made their way down the familiar corridor to dorm room 210.

"If Kimmy Jin's here, we're so _not_ having a three-way." Beca clarified offhandedly once they'd reached her room, Chloe's smirk growing in size as the brunette pressed down on the handle and leant against the door. But they both knew she was out; an all-night Wii bowling tournament had been arranged for tonight the previous week.

"But she's totally cute." the redhead responded somewhat reprovingly, following her over the threshold.

Beca turned and rolled her eyes, tossing her towel onto her bed. "You're the worst."

Chloe shook her head, doubtful sing song tones resonating in her throat as she hummed her way somewhat contentedly across the room. There was a weary quality about the way she moved, the usual gracefulness which normally emanated from her perfectly proportioned limbs now subdued to a quiet bumbling. The brunette's eyes flicked to her clock for the first time since returning; a cyan blue 23:53 blinked back her.

Chloe reached forwards, her fingers curling assuredly around her wrists. What followed was inevitable. She smiled again, tugging Beca towards her. Her scent was all-consuming; the subtle smell of apricots and honey caressing her senses in a frenzy of scattered nerves and fanatic heartbeats. She hesitated, Beca's breath hitching. Then, like something incredibly integral had clicked in her consciousness, she dipped her head, brushing her lips against the corner of her mouth.

And then, just like clockwork, Beca kissed her back.


End file.
